McHale is unlike any coach in Rockets history. Never before have they hired a coach with so little time on the bench.

McHale worked 94 games as coach of the Timberwolves — 31 as an interim head coach in 2005 and 63 as a midseason replacement in 2008-09, a stint that was as much about his being fired as the vice president of basketball operations as being hired as the head coach.

Though four of the nine coaches the Rockets have hired since they moved to Houston 40 years ago had never been a head coach in the NBA when tabbed by the team, all at least had years of experience as assistant coaches.

We'll have to wait for next week's official announcement to find out what sold Morey on this move. Surely it was more than his love of all things Celtic green.

What could be more interesting is how he wheedled Les Alexander, who has owned the Rockets for 18 years, into the hire.

When compared to those of the two previous coaches Alexander hired, there is a lot of blank space on McHale's coaching résumé. Adelman and Van Gundy had coached teams to the NBA Finals.

In his longest stint on the bench (2008-09), McHale coached his team to more than twice as many losses as wins.

NoGleeclub here

While this isn't as crazy as bringing in a coach from the college ranks or hiring the actor named Kevin McHale from the TV show Glee, this is no slam-dunk hire.

But Morey is staking his future as Rockets general manager on it. If McHale, 53, fails, Morey should be job hunting along with him.

Alexander has put his franchise in the hands of Morey and allowed his GM to make all the player-personnel decisions and set the tone for coaching hires. The personnel choices have been hit-and-miss, but mostly hit.

General managers who hit-and-miss with coaches typically don't last long.

Morey was happy to run off Van Gundy because he had Adelman waiting in the wings. He seemed slightly more hesitant to run off Adelman, but it's not like he regrets doing it.

McHale wasn't an understudy waiting in the wings, though. Morey had to run backstage, out the door, down the street and way off Broadway (to Atlanta and the NBA TV studios) to find him.

With the impending NBA lockout and Alexander being out of the country for a bit, Morey was in no rush to hire a coach.

But another reason for the lengthy search is Morey had to know how important the decision was to his future. He had to find the right guy.

Alexander might be pleased with Morey's management of the salary cap and perhaps the team's bottom line isn't written in red like so many teams in the NBA, but at some point wins and losses have to factor into the evaluation.

That point should be over the next couple of seasons.

Gather all the excuses you want, and there are many legitimate ones, but the results are the results.

McHale, then the vice president of basketball operations, offered this self-assessment after the Timberwolves' 2004-05 season: "I must have done a poor job. We didn't make the playoffs."

What does that say about Morey, whose team hasn't made the postseason in consecutive seasons?

Getting it right a must

At the end of the aforementioned season, the T-Wolves were in many ways in better shape than the Rockets are.

Minnesota finished with a better record (44-38 to the Rockets' 43-39), and more importantly, they had a star in Kevin Garnett, who was a year removed from an MVP season.

McHale hired Dwane Casey, the Dallas assistant coach who was a finalist along with Lawrence Frank for the Rockets job, as his head coach. Minnesota hasn't won more than 33 games in a season since.

That is why McHale lost his job three years later.

Alexander didn't go out and hire McHale. This is on Morey.

Morey underestimated the need for size on a team. He overestimated the ability of Yao Ming to stay healthy.

He underestimated the need for players to feel wanted. He overestimated how excited Adelman would be about his new-school approach.

He underestimated Tracy McGrady's and Trevor Ariza's lack of toughness and overestimated the desire for star players to relocate to Houston and the value of the Rockets' assets to other NBA teams.

In Morey's estimation, McHale is an excellent fit as Rockets head coach. The number of victories and playoff appearances in the next couple of years will tell us if Morey got it right.